Decommissioning and restoration

Harwell

Harwell in Oxfordshire is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is the birthplace of the UK nuclear industry. Opened in 1946, it became Britain’s Atomic Energy Research Establishment housing the most advanced radiochemistry laboratories in the world and allowing the safe handling of a wide range of radioactive materials. Harwell’s nuclear reactors and research facilities were built during the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s and continued to operate until the 1990’s.

Key near term activities

Work at Harwell is focused on progressive hazard reduction by processing radioactive waste, decommissioning and demolishing facilities, remediating land and ground water and delicensing the site.

The focus now is on managing waste and building an intermediate level waste store, decommissioning and demolishing redundant buildings and facilities such as the Liquid Effluent Treatment Plant and cleaning up contaminated land.

Achievements

A quarter of Harwell has been delicensed

Significant progress has been made on the decommissioning and demolition of the Liquid Effluent Treatment Plant

250 storage tubes have been successfully sealed and removed from BEPO using an innovative technique developed whilst working with award winning contractor Aurora and Steve Vick International

Post Irradiation Examination facility closed after 60 years as its last shipment of waste left site

Suppliers

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are a key link in our supply chain and Magnox is committed to supporting the SME agenda for growth.

Opportunities for contracts and ways to become a supplier are set out in the main Suppliers pages of this website.

Community

Site Stakeholder Groups (SSG) are long-established at each of the Magnox sites and provide an opportunity for stakeholders to find out more about the work being undertaken there.

Independently-chaired, the SSG meets regularly to examine our work, as well as that of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and regulators. The SSG’s membership includes local councillors, non-governmental organisations and other interested stakeholders.

If you would like to apply for socio-economic funding please visit: www.magnoxsocioeconomic.com